


Talk to Me

by greeneyedfeelsmonster



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, M/M, Mentions of canon violence, Pre-Relationship, content-wise it's basically gen, only rated teen because of language, seriously so much angst, with a teeny side of fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-27
Updated: 2015-04-27
Packaged: 2018-03-26 00:19:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3830203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greeneyedfeelsmonster/pseuds/greeneyedfeelsmonster
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“You’re not gonna lose us, okay? We’re your family, Karen, me and Foggy, we’re—we’re your <i>home</i>. The three of us against the world, yeah?”</p><p>Matt and Foggy get Karen to tell them why she's been falling apart. There's a lot of crying involved.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Talk to Me

“Karen.” Smooth and quiet as it is, Matt’s voice makes her jump. She’s been staring at the pattern of light on his living room floor, and she’s jerked back to reality just as the soft pink and white swirls start morphing into starched white fabric and spreading red stains—

“Karen?”

“Huh?”

“Please talk to me.”

She flashes her brightest smile even though she knows he can’t see it, and says in a too-cheery voice, “Sure. About what?”

Matt’s smile is so soft and sad and caring that it nearly breaks her. She’s so tired.

“Do you remember the night I asked you if something happened, and you said the world fell apart?”

She nods automatically, then says, “I remember.”

“I didn’t push you then, but Karen—the world’s coming back together, and you aren’t, you’re falling to pieces.” He reaches a hand to her face, cups her jaw, and she can’t help but lean into it. His thumb brushes across her cheek with the gentlest touch she’s felt in… possibly ever, and her eyes fill with tears. “Foggy says you’ve lost about ten pounds. You jump at every little noise. Karen—“ her breath catches at the tender way he says her name “—Karen _please._ What happened?”

Earlier that day Foggy suggested they go to Josie’s to let off some steam and she agreed, they were all tense, they deserved it—and she thought the scotch would help her keep from showing how close she was to shattering but apparently it hasn’t, all it’s done is bring the cracks closer to the surface. Her face twists. “I can’t—I can’t, I can’t lose you. I can’t lose you and Foggy, I can’t—“ and suddenly all her unshed tears, all the fear that she’s been pushing down, it’s all trying to claw its way out of her at once, and she’s shaking with the effort of biting it back. Matt pulls her into a hug and she draws in her knees and curls into the warm solidity of his side.

“Hey.” His voice is gentle, sweet, almost like he’s talking to a frightened child. She’d resent it if it weren’t so soothing. “Hey, tell you what. You tell me your big secret, and I’ll tell you mine.”

She puts a hand on his chest, laughing shakily. “Oh yeah, I’m sure you have a huge secret.”

She can feel a hint of a laugh rumble under her hand. “Yep. And you’re never gonna hear it if you don’t talk to me.”

“Well I can’t possibly say no to _that_.”

Matt takes a moment to respond, dropping a kiss to the top of her head. Eventually he says, “You’re not gonna lose us, okay? We’re your family, Karen, me and Foggy, we’re—we’re your _home._ The three of us against the world, yeah?”

Foggy, in typical Foggy fashion, chooses that moment to come out of the bathroom. Karen watches as he walks over to the couch and says, “Does that count as an invitation for a group hug? Because I am totally down for—“

Before he can finish the sentence, Karen grabs his shirt and pulls him down next to her, and with an “Oh. Okay, not arguing,” he lets her maneuver herself into his lap. His voice is light but worry practically pours off him and she curls into a ball, half on Matt’s lap and half on Foggy’s, and Matt strokes her hair while Foggy rubs her back, and this time she can’t fight the tears back. They soak into Matt’s jeans as she mumbles about how she never feels safe, ever, even in her apartment, and Foggy says in that really gentle Foggy way (which is completely different from the really gentle Matt way, and Karen can’t bring herself to believe that she has _one_ man in her life she can say that about, much less two): “Shhh, you’re safe, Karen, you’re safe with us.”

Her voice comes out a whisper. “Then where were you?”

Matt’s hand stills on her head, and Foggy says, “What’s that?”

“I know I’m safe—” she says, taking a breath, “—I know I’m safe with you, but where were you when James Wesley followed me home?” Matt stiffens, and Foggy stops breathing, but now she can’t stop and she’s suddenly _angry,_ so angry at both of them. “Where were you when he shot me full of ketamine or some shit and took me to that shitty warehouse and put a gun in front of me and threatened to kill everyone I loved if I didn’t become his Girl fucking Friday? Where were you then? At home? Not answering my calls because you couldn’t get your heads out of your asses long enough to push _one fucking button_. Where were you when I—when—“ and she can’t finish that sentence, can’t think about the gun’s kick or the acrid smell of gunpowder in her nostrils, can’t think about how bright his shirt looked as it changed from white to red. “I threw—I threw the gun in the river. After—I threw the gun in the river and I did it _alone.”_ Her voice trails off into a whisper. “I did it alone.”

Matt and Foggy are so still, and she’s suddenly absolutely certain they’re going to turn her in or arrest her for murder or _something_ , and maybe they should, it might be a relief—

But then Matt’s lifting her up and turning her around and just holding her, and she buries her face in his shoulder and then Foggy’s on her other side, hugging her tight, pressing her between them, and one of them, she’s not sure which, maybe both, is saying how much they love her, whispering reassurances, they’re sorry, she should never have had to go through that alone, they’ll protect her, it’s okay. And she finally, finally lets herself cry, really cry, sobbing into Matt’s shirt until she’s hoarse.

Minutes or maybe hours later, she’s lying limply across Matt and Foggy’s laps, relaxed out of sheer exhaustion, when Matt brushes her hair out of her face and asks her if she wants to stay the night. She nods and he picks her up like she weighs nothing, carrying her sideways through the door into the bedroom without any kind of hesitation. It doesn’t occur to her to question it, but her mind files it away for future reference.

Matt sets her on his bed while Foggy rummages through Matt’s dresser and grabs a t-shirt and sweatpants, bringing them to her, then leaving the room while Matt helps her with the zip on her dress. Matt lets her lean on him to step out of it, then steadies her as she pulls on his clothes. Just as he’s easing her against the pillows, Foggy comes back in with a damp washcloth, a towel, and a glass of water. Matt grabs a quilt and leaves the room, and Foggy sets the water on the nightstand, sits on the edge of the bed, and gently washes her face. The cloth is cool and soothing on her too-warm skin, the towel soft, and the tenderness of it makes her want to cry again. “Hey,” he says, “None of that,” then slips an arm around her back to help her sit up and drink some water. She realizes how thirsty she is and starts trying to gulp it down, but he makes her drink slowly. When the glass is empty he lowers her back down to the pillow, pulls the sheet up to her chin, and turns to leave.

“Foggy?”

He turns around at her soft question. “Yeah?”

“Where’s Matt?”

“He’s setting up a place to sleep. Want me to get him?”

She nods and he’s about to leave again when she says, “Foggy?”

“Yeah, Karen?”

“Will you come back in with him? And—and stay with me?”

“Sure.”

And that’s how she ends up lying in silk sheets, sandwiched between the two kindest people she’s ever met; and feeling, for possibly the first time in her life, safe and warm and loved.


End file.
